PART ONE

Palouse High School

Northeast County

Introduction to Whitman County

Papers, Articles, Class Interview

When I talked to Alice Rockhill about how her students might be involved in this project, she was already well into a unit on Whitman County History.  She invited me to come to her class and listen to some oral presentations, which I did.  I was delighted to realize I had found the piece that had eluded me: "Where and how do we start this story?" I had wondered.  Well, here it is. 

Part One starts off with a series of essays that define Whitman County, a context setting done well  by some of Rockhill's students.  Then we have a series of essays written in response to a visit to the classroom by Gene Bridge in connection with Memorial Day.  The variety of responses is captivating.  But for now, let's start with The Palouse River, Flour Mills, Barns, and excerpts from a lengthier paper on Early Technology in Whitman County.

It was into this county,  so well described by these four writers, that many of our World War II generation people were born.  Also, some have moved to Whitman County and some lived here, then moved away.  One of these people, Gene Bridge, got to meet the above authors and the rest of their class.  The following essays were written in response to the time he spent with those students.  The first one speaks of life in the military; one tells of a girl having her thoughts turned to what America means to her; another saw the potential available to her;  one student reflected on prejudice;  eight wrote about veterans;  and a couple made comments about Gene Bridge which we have combined with one student's story about Bridge's experiences.  After sharing the story about Gene Bridge,  I closed this section with excerpts from a story that appeared in  Palouse Magazine, a story that profiles a man who was raised in Garfield in Northeast Whitman County.

The following eight papers, in author-alpha order, all deal with why we should appreciate our veterans.  The articles contain some interesting insights and responses from students who all listened to the same veteran speak. 

See?  I couldn't take all mention of heroes out of the book.  I couldn't totally rewrite Ed's paper, now could I?

Here's an idea.  The next time you find yourself saying, "These kids today…" pick up this book and reread Part One.  These kids today are pretty good kids, and not bad writers either!

Now, let's meet our first Whitman County veteran, Gene Bridge, as seen through the eyes of some Palouse High School students.

Jim Wride lives out of state now, but his brother Don is still a Whitman County resident.  Don Wride put together Jim's story which was published in four parts in Palouse Magazine.  The following is a summary of that series of articles, presented here by the kind permission of the Wride family and the blessings of Publisher Sally Elder.  It tells of Jim's induction and training, and his overseas duty in the Pacific.  This serves as the broad pattern for most of the stories in this book.

The theme played out in Jim Wride's story will become familiar as you read through TRIBUTE :  enlist, get trained, be assigned, perform duties, return home.  But the variations on that theme are endless.  Parts Two through Six play those variations as the theme is  repeated.